Node having components for performing functions and software for controlling the components if the node has been registered to a user account at a remote site

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for providing registration at a remote site that may include, for example, a monitoring module that may communicate with a remote site. A registration protocol may be used by the monitoring module and the remote site in generating the messages communicated during the registration process. The monitoring module may gather and generate various identification information to be included in the registration protocol messages. The registration information provided by the monitoring module may be stored at the remote site in a database server having a database. A confirmation message may be communicated from the remote site to the monitoring module that may either acknowledge successful registration or report that an error occurred during the registration process.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/104,936, filed Dec. 12, 2013, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/853,140, filed Aug. 9, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No.8,723,664, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/823,870, filed Jun. 27, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,796,023, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/143,920, filed Jun.1, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,250,854, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/664,609, filed Sep. 16, 2003, now U.S.Pat. No. 6,943,681, which is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/709,688, filed Nov. 10, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,686,838,which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/230,318,filed Sep. 6, 2000, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated byreference herein for all purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to systems and methods for registering devices atremote sites, and more particularly, this invention relates to systemsand methods for automatically registering devices at remote sites. Theremote sites may be accessed by a user to control the registereddevices.

Much of today's technology involves the use of equipment that iscontrolled from a remote location. Typically, before such equipment canbe used, the equipment must first be registered at a remote location.

For example, cellular phones must be registered with a cellular phoneservice provider before being used. Users may purchase cellular phonesfrom stores, but unless the phones are activated by the cellular serviceprovider, they are useless. The activation involves the user or aretailer providing particular information about the user and his or hercellular phone to a cellular service provider. Users typically registercellular phones by calling the service provider and providingregistration information using a separate telephone or by submitting tothe service provider electronic forms (e.g., using a modem-to-modemconnection). In either case, the probability for error is high given thehuman interaction involved. Furthermore, much time must be expended inthese procedures.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide improvedsystems and methods for remotely registering devices.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This and other objects of the invention are accomplished in accordancewith the principles of the present invention by providing an automaticregistration system having monitoring modules that communicate withremote sites. Devices at one or more locations may interface with themonitoring modules.

One or more monitoring modules and their associated interfaced devicesmay be referred to herein as “installations.” Devices may include, forexample, video cameras, still cameras, motion sensors, audibledetectors, any suitable household appliances, or any other suitabledevice. Monitoring modules may be stand-alone devices, softwareapplications, any suitable combination of software and hardware, or anyother suitable architecture. Monitoring modules may communicate with oneor more remote sites via a suitable communications network using anysuitable communications protocol. The monitoring modules and remotesites may use a registration protocol to transmit registrationinformation. The registration information may get stored in a databaseat the remote site. The registration protocol may be a subset of thecommunications protocol used between the monitoring modules and theremote sites.

An installation, any of its components, or both may be associated with aparticular user account. The account holder may be any suitable entity,such as, for example, a person, a corporate entity, a family, agovernmental entity, any suitable organization, or any other suitableentity capable of maintaining an account.

Association of an installation, installation elements, or both withcorresponding user accounts may take place at the remote site. Theremote site may make the association using any suitable databaseconstruct that may serve to cross-reference the installation,installation elements, or both with user accounts. For example, anysuitable relational database schema with suitable keys may be used.

Monitoring modules may be assigned or may generate a globally uniquemonitoring module identification, corresponding password, modelidentification code, and transaction identification for use during theregistration process. The monitoring module may automatically detect anydevices that are interfaced with it. The monitoring module may obtainfrom the device any necessary or useful data in registering the devicesas well as itself. The identification information and device informationmay be communicated to the remote site via the communications network.

Remote sites may include any suitable computer-based server orcombination of servers such as, for example, web servers and databaseservers. Monitoring modules at installations may exchange registrationprotocol messages with remote sites using any protocol suitable to thechosen communications network. In an Internet-based approach, forexample, installations and remote sites may exchange registrationmessages using HTTP (which may be processed by the web server at theremote site) over TCP/IP (e.g., IP version 6, IP version 4, etc.) over acommunications network. Servers such as a web server and a databaseserver, may interact through the use of API functions.

The remote sites may validate received registration protocol messages.Where the registration messages contain no errors, or where errors arecorrectable by the remote site, the registration information containedtherein may be stored in a database in the database server. Aconfirmation message may be communicated from the remote site to theinstallation that may include either an ACK code that denotes successfulcompletion of the registration process or a NAK code that may denote anunsuccessful registration attempt.

Devices may be automatically detected by a monitoring module. Automaticdetection may be implemented using any suitable approach. For example,the monitoring module may communicate a handshake signal to all of itsinterface ports. If the monitoring module receives a response, then adevice may be detected at the port from which the response was received.In another suitable approach, a particular pin of the interface port maybe used to denote whether power is being sent through the port (i.e., topower a device). If the value of the pin is high, for example, themonitoring module may deduce that a device is coupled to the monitoringmodule at that port. In another suitable approach, a user mayproactively have the monitoring module detect a particular device.—Forexample, the user may press a button on the device that may cause thedevice to send a communication to the monitoring module, thus alertingthe monitoring module of the device's presence.

In one suitable embodiment of the present invention, virtualrepresentations of devices may be registered. Virtual representation maybe made up of resources, which may be, in turn, made up of components.Components may be used to indicate the state of a corresponding physicaldevice component. Components may be used to change the state of acorresponding physical device component. Virtual representations ofdevices may be accessed by users who are authorized to access thevirtual representations. These users may be those users that areassociated with the user account with which the corresponding devices(of the virtual representations) are also associated.

New devices or monitoring modules may be added to a registeredinstallation and automatically detected and registered by a new objectdiscovery process. New object discovery may be conducted by registeredmonitoring modules, the remote site, or by any other suitable element ofthe automatic registration system. The new object discovery may beconducted on a continuous basis or on a periodic basis. If desired, thenew object discovery need not be automatic, but may be instantiated bythe user (e.g., through simple software or hardware manipulation).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an illustrative automatic registrationsystem in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of some of the components of the illustrativeautomatic registration system of FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of some of the components of the illustrativeautomatic registration system of FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of illustrative steps involved in associating aninstallation with a user account during the registration process inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative registration display screen for a serviceagreement in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows an illustrative registration display screen for requestinginformation from a user in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 shows an illustrative registration display screen for showinguser-assigned names for particular devices in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 shows an illustrative registration display screen for allowing auser to name an installation being registered in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9A shows an illustrative registration display screen forinstructing the user on how to attach devices to a monitoring module inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9B is a flow chart of illustrative steps involved with usinghandshaking for automatic device detection in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9C is a flow chart of illustrative steps involves with detectingdata streams for automatic device detection in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 shows an illustrative registration display screen for notifyingthe user of detected devices and to allow the user to rename a device inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 shows an illustrative registration display screen that allowsthe user to provide information on the communications network being usedand to test the connection in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an illustrative identification informationthat may be generated by a monitoring module in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart of illustrative steps involved in the automaticregistration of an installation in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 14 shows illustrative commands, their parameters, and validitychecks in accordance with an 5 embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is an illustrative database schema that may be used by thedatabase server of FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an illustrative relationship between thedatabase and the web server in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 17 shows an illustrative registration display screen that displaysthe assigned notification action for a particular event in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a flow chart of illustrative steps involved in registeringvirtual representation in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 19 is a flow chart of illustrative steps involved in the automaticdetection and registration of new devices in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative system 10 in accordance with the presentinvention. For purposes of clarity, and not by way of limitation, anillustrative client-server based embodiment of the present invention isherein described. System 10 may include an installation 12 and a remotesite 14 that may be linked via a communications network 16. In practice,there may be more than one remote site 14 and installation 12, but onlyone each is shown to avoid over-complicating the drawing. Remote site 14may be any suitable remote site that may include equipment such as, forexample, one or more servers, mainframes, personal computers, or anyother suitable computer-based equipment. Remote site 14 may include anetwork of suitable computers that may be interconnected in any suitableway, such as, for example, through a local area network, wide areanetwork, telephone network, cable television network, Intranet,Internet, or any other suitable wired or wireless communicationsnetwork. Communications network 16 may be any suitable communicationsnetwork, such as, for example, a local area network, wide area network,telephone network, cable television network, Intranet, Internet, or anyother suitable wired or wireless communications network. Some suitablewireless communications networks may be global system for mobilecommunications (GSM), time-division multiple access (TDMA),code-division multiple access (CDMA), Bluetooth, or any other suitablewireless communication networks. Installation 12 and remote site 14 maycommunicate over communications network 16 using any suitable protocolor protocol stack. For example, installation 12 and remote site 14 maycommunicate via a transmission control protocol/Internet protocol(TCP/IP) environment using, for example, IP version 4 or IP version 6(that supports 128-bit network addressing) and a hypertext transferprotocol (HTTP). In another approach, universal plug and play (UPnP)technology may be used to allow communication between installation 12and remote site 14. Any suitable request-response type of protocol andsocket-based packet transport stack, or suitable peer-to-peercommunications approach may be used as desired.

Installation 12 and remote site 14 may communicate using any suitablecommunications. Communications may include, for example, commands,requests, messages, remote procedure calls (e.g., using a proxy-stubpair), or any other suitable client-server or peer-to-peercommunication. Communications may also involve, for example, complexcommunications between application constructs running on installation 12and remote site 14. Objects running on the client and server may, forexample, communicate using an Object Request Broker (ORB). Transmittedinformation may, for example, be encapsulated as COM objects orJavabeans and persisted to files that are transmitted over a remoteaccess link. In another suitable approach, access communications mayinclude hypertext markup language (HTML) formatted markup languagedocuments (e.g., web pages), that are exchanged between installation 12and remote site 14 via ISP 23 and communications link 16. For example,communications may consist of a series of HTTP posts and responses inwhich the parameters for the transmissions may be sent as name/valuepairs in the normal post method. In order to achieve the result oftransmitting multiple commands in a single command string, numberedcommands may be parsed out and executed at remote site 14. Remote site14 may be responsible for parsing the command string into individualcommands and executing each of those commands. In order to achieve thistask of parsing the commands, remote site 14 may utilize a scriptlanguage and interpreter such as Personal Home Page Tools (PHP) which isembedded within a Web page along with its Hypertext Markup Language(HTML). For example, before a page is sent to the requesting user, theWeb server may call PHP to interpret and perform the operations calledfor. Other similar technologies may also be utilized such as JavaScript,Microsoft's VBScript, or any other applicable script interpreter. Ifdesired, any other suitable client-server or peer-to-peer based approachmay be used.

Installation 12 may be operated by a local user. Installation 12 mayinclude one or more nodes. For purposes of illustration, FIG. 1illustrates an approach having two nodes, first user node 18 and seconduser node 20. It should be understood that nodes 18 and 20 may belocated at a single location, such as the user's main residence. Ifdesired, nodes may be located across more than one location. Forexample, one node may be in a user's main residence and another at theuser's vacation house.

In one embodiment of the present invention, user node 18 may include aclient device 22 that may be connected to communications network 16. InInternet-based approaches, such as, for example, as in the embodimentshown in FIG. 1, client device 22 may be connected to the Internet viaan Internet service provider (ISP) 23. Client device 22 may be anydevice suitable for communicating with remote site 14 via communicationsnetwork 16. For example, client device 22 may be a computer, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a terminal, a set-top box, or any othersuitable device that provides access to remote site 14 viacommunications network 16. Client device 22 may include, for example, anInternet browser application that may be used to access web pages viacommunications network 16. In other suitable approaches, client device22 may run a client application that provides locally generated displayspropagated with a format obtained using any suitable client-server orpeer-to-peer scheme.

Client device 22 may communicate with ISP 23 or directly withcommunications network 16 using any suitable communications link. Forexample, the link may include a telephone dial-up link, digitalsubscriber lines (DSL), a cable modem link (e.g., a data over cableservice interface specification (DOCSIS)), a satellite link, a computernetwork link (e.g., Ethernet link, Tl line, etc.) or any other suitablecommunications link or combination of communications links.

Remote site 14 may include one or more servers such as, for example, webserver 46 and database server 48. Database server 48 may maintaindatabase 58. In other suitable approaches, such as non-Internet basedapproaches, remote site 14 may include an application server and anyother suitable server or combination of servers. As herein used, theterm “server” is not limited to a distinct piece of computing hardwareor storage hardware, but may also be a software application or acombination of hardware and software. For example, one computer may havesoftware that enables the computer to act as both a web server and as adatabase server.

In some suitable approaches, remote site 14 may provide displays ordisplay definitions to client device 22. In the Internet-based approachof FIG. 1, for example, web server 46 may generate static and dynamicweb pages from data supplied by database server 48. Web page 47 may beviewed by a user using Internet browser 26 running on client device 22.

Software applications interfacing installation 12 with remote site 14may be created using any suitable platform and/or software developmenttools. For example, Java 2 Enterprise Edition, Javabeans, componentobject model (COM) based technologies (e.g., ActiveX, object linking andembedding (OLE), etc.), Javascript, Visual Basic, C, C++, scriptinglanguages, or any combination of these or other suitable developmenttools may be used in creating the software interface betweeninstallation 12 and remote site 14 (e.g., web-page interface). Anycombination of these or other suitable development tools may be used inpreparing any other software modules or applications for use in anyother suitable facet of the present invention.

Remote site 14 may function as the master controller of the system shownin system 10. In addition, users may access the system shown in system10 via any computer, monitoring module, or remote user access devicelinked to communications network 16. Remote user access devices (such asremote user access device 17 in FIG. 1) may include, for example,personal digital assistants, cellular telephones, set-top boxes,personal computers, or any other suitable device a user may use toaccess remote site 14 via communications network 16.

Monitoring modules 28 may serve as an interface between remote site 14and at least one connected device 32. Monitoring modules 28 may, be anysuitable hardware, software, or a combination thereof and may beincluded at any point within the system. For example, monitoring module28 may be a software application running on client device 22 or aseparate piece of hardware that may be connected to client device 22 (asshown at node 18) or partially implemented as software on client device22 and a separate piece of hardware. In some embodiments, monitoringmodule 28 may be a stand-alone appliance (as shown at node 20) connectedto communications network 16, operating separately and independentlyfrom client device 22. Each monitoring module may be shipped with amodel identification code, or with the capacity to generate such a code,that may serve to identify each particular monitoring module's modeltype.

One or more monitoring modules may be installed at one or morelocations. Monitoring modules may be installed by the user (or any othersuitable person) by, for example, connecting the modules to clientdevice 22 that may communicate with remote site 14 over communicationsnetwork 16. The connection between the monitoring module and the clientaccess device and between devices and the monitoring module may be inthe form of a universal serial bus (USB) connection, parallel portconnection, serial connection (e.g., RS-232), Firewire connection, anycombination of these, or any other suitable type of connection. Ifdesired, monitoring modules may be given the capability (e.g.,processing hardware, communications equipment, etc.) to communicate, viacommunications network 16, without the use of a client access device.

Monitoring modules may link attached devices or appliances (e.g.,sensors, cameras, microwaves, refrigerators, etc.) with remote site 14via communications network 16. One or more monitoring modules 28 mayprovide data from attached devices and appliances to remote site 14 viacommunications network 16. The term “device,” as defined herein, shallinclude any suitable device or appliance.

At least one device 32 may be interfaced with and controlled by eachmonitoring module 28. Connections between monitoring module 28 and thevarious devices 32 may be hardwired or wireless (e.g., using Bluetoothtechnology). Devices 32 may encompass any suitable device capable ofbeing controlled or mediated by an external controller. Such devices mayinclude, but are not limited to, a camera 34, a radio 36, a smoke orfire detector 38, a contact sensor 40, and a light switch 41. Althoughnot illustrated, other suitable devices may include, for example,various audio input and output devices, various visual displays,washers/driers, microwave ovens, cooking ranges, car alarms, plantwatering devices, sprinkler, thermostats, carbon monoxide sensors,humidistats, rain gauges, video cassette recorders, radio tuners, or anyother suitable device and the like.

One or more notification devices, such as pager 43, may also beincorporated into the system. As illustrated in FIG. 1, pager 43 is inwireless communication with a wireless or cellular transmitter 44associated with remote site 14. Other suitable notification devicesinclude, for example, e-mail clients, wireless hand-held computers,wireless wearable computer units, automatic web notification via dynamicweb content, telephone clients, voice mail clients, cellular telephones,instant messaging clients, and the like.

System 10 provides users with opportunities to remotely control andmonitor devices 32 using remote user access devices 17 viacommunications network 16. In the example of FIG. 1, users may controldevices 32 that are interfaced with monitoring modules 28 at node 18 anddevices 32 interfaced with monitoring module 28 at node 20. In practice,there may be a single node, or more nodes, depending on, for example,the user's equipment, number of sites, or other suitable parameters. Inpractice, a suitable system architecture and communications network 16may allow users, or anyone that user's permit, to readily monitor andcontrol monitoring modules 28 from any location using any suitabledevice that is capable of communicating with remote site 14 viacommunications network 16.

In another suitable approach, users may access installation 12 usingremote user access devices 17 without the use of remote site 14. Forexample, remote user access devices 17 may be used to communicate withmonitoring modules 28 of installation 12 via communication network 16and ISP 23. If desired, two-way communications may be implemented usingthis approach. Remote user access device may access installation 12using, for example, special IP addresses assigned to a particularmonitoring module, node, installation, or any other suitable element ofthe installation. The use of IP addresses is merely illustrative. Anyother suitable addressing may be used to allow access to an installationfrom a remote used access device.

Devices 32 may be programmed at the installation in terms of how theyrespond to certain events (e.g., what does the camera do when thecontact sensor is triggered?). Alternatively, devices 32 may beprogrammed from a remote location using remote user access device 17,for example. The programming may be stored in devices 32, monitoringmodules 28, or at remote site 14.

The following examples of the uses of illustrative devices willillustrate the operation of the present invention. For example, contactsensor 40 of FIG. 1 may be associated with the front door (not shown) ofa remote location associated with second node 20. Contact sensor 40 maybe configured to trip whenever the front door is opened. Camera 34 isalso positioned to view the front door location and may be programmed totake a digital picture whenever the sensor contact 40 is tripped. Thispicture may be transmitted over communications network 16 and stored indatabase server 48. When contact sensor 40 detects that the front doorhas been opened, an event notification or alarm trigger may betransmitted by monitoring module 28 to database server 48. Databaseserver 48 may have been previously programmed to transmit a notificationevent to the user's pager, for example, via cellular transmitter 44. Asthe contact sensor is tripped, camera 34 may take a picture of the frontdoor and may transmit that picture, via monitoring module 28 andcommunications network 16, to database server 48. The user, having beennotified via pager 42, may now access the picture using web server 46 ofremote site 14 via Internet browser 26. In this way, the user maydetermine who has entered the front door of his or her home.

As another example, system 10 may allow a user located at one node 18 tocontrol a device at a second node 20. The user may contact web server 46via, for example, Internet browser 26 of node 18 in order to access adatabase entry for light switch 41 of node 20. A virtual representationof the light switch 41 may be made available to the user by web server46 and may be manipulated by the user to remotely change the state oflight switch 41 and the connected lamp 42. For example, the system mayallow the user to change the state of lamp 42 from being “off” to being“on” by, for example, manipulating the virtual light switch from webserver 46 and a corresponding command would be placed in the queue ofwaiting commands on the server component.

Periodically, the controlling module or monitor 28 may poll remote site14 looking for waiting commands, such as the change state command oflight switch 41. Thereafter, the command may be transmitted tomonitoring device 28 that would instruct the light switch—to change fromthe “off” state to the “on” state, thus turning on lamp 46. This changein state of lamp 46 may be viewed by an appropriately positioned camera,such as camera 34, which would be used to visually monitor the remotelocation 20 to determine whether the command had been completedsuccessfully. If the command had not been successfully completed, thenan error message may be communicated to the user, using for example, themeans specified by the user's notification preferences or through anyother suitable means of communicating information to the user. This ismerely an illustrative approach for detecting a change is state of adevice. In another suitable approach, lamp 46 may be in two-waycommunications with a corresponding device driver. The device driver mayquery the lamp to determine whether it was on after executing a “turnon” command. Any such suitable approach may be used for detecting astate in change of a device.

Referring now to FIG. 2, monitoring module 28 may serve, for example, asa common connection point for one or more devices 32 at an installation12 and as the interface between devices 32 and remote site 14 viacommunications network 16. Monitoring module 28 may, for, example, serveas a translation and brokering agent between remote site 14 and devices32.

In one suitable embodiment, monitoring module 28 may be software made upof multiple dynamically loaded objects, or device descriptors 49, thatmay allow remote site 14 to interface with the devices 32. Thedynamically loaded device descriptors 49 may act as device drivers fordevices 32, translating, in both directions, monitoring, command, andcontrol data exchanged between monitoring module 28 and remote site 14via communications network 16. Each device descriptor 49 may alsotranslate the signals received from monitoring module 28 into thespecific electrical signals that are required to communicate with (bothinput and output) and control its associated device 32. Devicedescriptor 49 may be provided for each specific device 32 when, forexample, different devices 32 have different interfaces and requirespecific sets of electrical signals for their monitor and control.

Device descriptors 49 may include, for example, a manufactureridentification, product identification, and driver version number toallow a device to be referenced correctly. Once a new device 32 has beendetected and is to be integrated into the system, monitoring module 28may reference, download, and run the appropriate drivers for the newdevice.

After loading a new descriptor 49, monitoring module 28 may communicatewith remote site 14 to determine whether device 32 has been previouslycatalogued. Monitoring module 28 may, for example, determine if ageneral description and a default state of device 32 exists at theremote site. When a device 32 has been catalogued, then, for example,static parameters, such as the manufacturer name, may be communicatedfrom monitoring module 28 to remote site 14 and the default state ofdevice 32 may exist at remote site 14. When a device 32 is not alreadycatalogued, device 32 may communicate its default state and staticparameters to monitoring module 28 that may, in turn, communicate thedefault state and static parameters to remote site 14. The communicationfrom monitoring module 28 to remote site 14 may be done using name/valuepairs using, for example, the normal HTTP post method discussedhereinbefore. For example, a template document may be a static parameterof device 32.

FIG. 3 shows five devices, 32, 32 a, 32 b, 32 c, 32 d. In practice,there may be more or fewer devices with each installation. Each devicemay be interfaced to a monitoring module 28 via a device descriptor ordriver 49 (only one shown). Each device may include a customizable userinterface 58 that may be viewable on a remote user access device overcommunications network 16. Interfaces 58 may include virtualrepresentations of the actual user interfaces of the devices.

In another approach, virtual representations may be stored on, forexample, web server 46. Remote site 14 may use changes in device statesto change the virtual representations of the devices with which thechanged states are associated. A virtual representation of a device, aspreviously described, may be either a text-based, symbol-based, orimage-based representation of an actual device 32 from the installationas it appears to a user who accesses the remote site from a locationremote to the installation using any suitable remote user access device.For example, if the device is a light switch, the corresponding virtualrepresentation may be an indicator icon that may be either green or redIf the indicator icon is green, that may denote that the actual lightswitch is in the “on” position. If the indicator is red, that may denotethat the light switch is in the “off” position. If, during a heartbeatoperation, remote site 14 is informed that the state of the light switchchanges from “on” to “off,” then the virtual representation of the lightswitch may change from being green to being red.

User interface 58 may include at least one resource. In the example ofFIG. 3, resources 60, 62, and 64 are shown. Resources may provide userswith access to features specific to their associated device. Forexample, the device shown in FIG. 3 represents a videocassette recorder(VCR) having a recording setting resource 60, a channel selectingresource 62, and a power selecting resource 64. Typical VCRs may haveother operational resources, but the resources illustrated in FIG. 3 aresufficient to illustrate the operation of the device.

Each resource 60, 62, 64 may include one or more display components. Forexample, the recording setting resource 60 includes a display component70 and a series of pushbuttons 72, 74, 76, 78 which a user may use toactivate the VCR's fast forward, reverse, play, and stop functions,respectively. The channel selecting resource 62 may include the displaycomponent 70 and a pair of pushbuttons 82 that users may use to activateup channel and down channel functions of the VCR. The power selectingresource 64 may include a toggle switch 80 that user may use to activatethe VCR's power on and power off commands, and an LED indicator 81 thatmay indicate the power condition of the VCR.

Other suitable display components may include toggle buttons, radiobuttons, absolute sliders, proportional sliders, edit fields, labels,images, video clips, streaming video, streaming audio, multiselect list,time fields, date fields, N-directional components, N-state buttons,N-state selectors (where N may be any suitable integer), trees, tables,graphs, charts, drawing pads, streaming audio, banners, or any othersuitable display components. Display components may act as statusindicators. If desired, display components allow users to togglesettings or otherwise manipulate devices 32. For example toggle buttonsmay serve as indicators, showing, for example, whether a device is inthe “on” position or in the “off” position. Toggle buttons may allowusers to change the state of—a device, by, for example, turning a deviceon or off Sliders may act as indicators by showing, for example, thepercentage complete of a particular process a device may be performing(e.g., baking a cake), and may allow users to change the state of adevice (e.g., changing the thermostat temperature). Edit fields mayallow users to change textual representations of suitable elements(e.g., naming a television show to be recorded by the show's name).Video, audio, images, or any other suitable media-based components mayact as indicators showing what the devices are sensing (e.g., images maybe sensed by cameras, streaming video may be sensed by camcorders, audioclips may be sensed by audio recorders, etc.). Date and time fields mayact as indicators, by, for example, displaying what date and time a VCRis set to start recording. Date and time fields may allow users to setthe date and time a VCR may start recording. Multiselect lists may actas indicators by, for example, listing all sound sensors that aredetecting noise in the house. Multiselect lists may also be used, forexample, to select some of a number of available sensors to turn on.

A virtual representation of each device 32, 32 a, 32 b, 32 c, 32 d maybe stored as a record 94, 94 a, 94 b, 94 c, 94 d in the database ofdatabase server 48 of remote site 14. Each record may contain an entryfor each resource and its associated components which make up thedevice. For example, record 94 for VCR device 32 may contain an entry90, 91, 92 for each resource 60, 62, and 64, respectively, and an entry90 a, 90 b, 90 c, 90 d, 91 a, 91 b, 92 a, and 92 b for each component70, 72, 72, 74, 80, 81, and 82, respectively. In addition, a web page 47may be generated by web server 46 by extracting the associated recordfor that device from database server 48 and creating a graphical,textual, tactile, aural, or other similar modality user interfacerepresentation of that device that the user may access via, for example,Internet browser 26.

One of the functions that monitoring module 28 may serve is to persistthe state of devices 32. This may be done, for example, to allow thereal-time states of devices 32 to be stored, to communicate to remotesite 14, or to allow for easy recovery from a system crash.

The stored state of devices 32 may also be used for maintaining asynchronized relationship between an installation 12 and remote site 14.In one possible embodiment of the present invention, remote site 14 andinstallation 12 may use polling and heartbeat mechanisms in order tosynchronize state information between remote site 14 and installation12. Polling may refer to a process whereby monitoring module 28 obtainscommands from remote site 14. The commands may reside, for example, incommand queue 51. Commands may be accumulated at command queue 51 as aresult of any suitable action by the user, by remote site 14, or byboth. For example, a user may use a remote user access device to issue acommand or a request to remote site 14 to cause a change in state of oneof devices 32 (e.g., to turn a lamp on). Remote site 14 may post thechange in state command to a command queue 51.

Monitoring module 28 may communicate a request for pending commands toremote site 14. This request may be communicated periodically as part ofthe polling process. In response to the monitoring module's request,remote site 14 may provide one or more pending commands from commandqueue 51, and may notify monitoring module 28 of the number of remainingpending commands in command queue 51. Monitoring module 28 may thenagain communicate a request for pending commands. Remote site 14 mayreturn more of the pending commands from command queue 51. This processmay continue until command queue 51 at remote site 14 is empty.

Remote site 14 may provide commands to monitoring module 28 using anysuitable algorithm. For example, remote site 14 may return commandsusing first-come, first-serve, round robin, first-in, first-out,weighted prioritization, or any other suitable algorithm. Remote site 14may also proactively inform monitoring module 28 that commands arewaiting in queue 51. Monitoring module 28 may then poll remote site 14and retrieve commands from remote site 14 until the queue is empty.

Whereas polling process 50 is used by remote site 14 to effect statechanges in devices 32 via monitoring module 28, monitoring module 28 mayuse heartbeat process 52 to update device state information at remotesite 14. A heartbeat may be a periodic communication from monitoringmodule 28 to remote site 14 containing updated state information fordevices 32 associated with monitoring module 28. In one suitableheartbeat process 52, monitoring module 28 may send a communication toremote site 14 in response to a change in state of a device 32, asynchronization of a device 32 with remote site 14, a triggered alertevent, or in response to any other suitable event. In such a heartbeatoperation 52, all data intended to be transmitted to remote site 14 maybe transmitted to remote site 14 via communications network 16. Remotesite 14 may transmit an acknowledgment of receipt and successfulprocessing of the data back to monitoring module 28.

Remote site 14 may direct monitoring module 28 to make changes in itsown state by, for example, posting commands to data store 51. Forexample, remote site 14 may post commands that set or modify the polling50 or heartbeat 52 time intervals. Upon reaching the end of the currentpolling interval, monitoring module 28 may send a communication toremote site 14, requesting any queued commands. Monitoring module 28 maycontinue to poll, using a preselected communication scheme, until thequeue of commands waiting for monitoring module 28 is empty. Eachcommand received from the queue may be acted upon when the command isreceived and any associated state changes are effected. Remote site 14may transmit an acknowledgment of receipt and successful processing ofthe data back to monitoring module 28.

If desired, remote site 14 may send unsolicited communications tomonitoring module 28. Remote site 14 may send communications to, forexample, set or update the heartbeat or polling time, or to causemonitoring module 28 to issue a command to update a component of adevice. Remote site 14 may send unsolicited communications to monitoringmodule 28 for any other suitable purpose.

In addition to maintaining the polling and heartbeat operations andexchanging communications for events, data, and commands 54 with remotesite 14, monitoring module 28 may also take care of many network levelactivities 56. These activities may include, but are not limited toverifying passwords, dialing up an ISP, if necessary, periodicallyuploading accounting/billing information, and performing securitymeasures. Any other suitable network level activities may be performedby monitoring module 28.

The present invention may provide a registration process. Theregistration process may be used to allow the registration of new users,monitoring modules, and available devices at remote site 14. Usinginformation from the registration process, remote site 14 may providethe registered user with access to the functionalities of the registeredmonitoring module and registered devices. Users may access thefunctionalities of the modules and devices via communications network16.

A user or users of installation 12 may open an account with remote site14 to use services offered by remote site 14. For example, the user orusers of installation 12 may open an account with remote site 14 byaccessing web server 46 of remote site 14 via, for example, web browser26. If desired, accounts may be opened using any other suitableapproach, such as, for example, using a telephone, or mailing in aphysical contract. Information provided for the purposes of opening anaccount with remote site 14 may be stored in database server 48.

In one suitable embodiment of the present invention, users may berequired to create accounts before installations, monitoring modules,devices, components, virtual representations, or other elements of thesystem that are associated with a particular user or entity may beregistered with remote site 14. Subsequent access to the registeredinstallations may be granted only to the user account holder or to thosethat the user account holder has permitted access. FIG. 4 is flow chartof illustrative steps involved in associating registered installations(and the registered elements making up the registered installations)with a particular user account. At step 306 a user account is created.Registration of the user's installations takes place at step 308. Step308 may include steps 309 and 311. At step 309, appropriate databaseentries may be made in database 58 that catalog the elements to beregistered (which may effectively serve to register the elements atremote site 14). At step 311, remote site associates the registeredelements with their corresponding user account. This may be done usingany suitable cross-referencing technique. For example, in a relationaldatabase, a separate table may list all installations in one field andthe corresponding user accounts in another field. Another table may listall installations in one field (that may act as a key field to the firsttable) and all associated elements in another field. This is merely anillustrative relational database structure for cross-referencinginstallations and their elements with corresponding user accounts. Anyother suitable database construct may be used.

Once the registration process is completed, the user account holder andthose entities that the user account holder permits access to, mayaccess the registered installations at step 310.

Monitoring modules 28 may also register with remote site 14. Informationregarding monitoring modules 28, such as model identification, attacheddevices, etc. may also be stored in database server 48. Once amonitoring module is registered, it may register its attached deviceswith remote site 14. Information associated with devices, such as devicenames, may be stored in database server 48 and made available to theuser. Each device 32 may communicate with monitoring modules 28 andexport its customized interface to database server 48. If the interfaceis not customized, a default interface may be used.

The registration process of the present invention may require userinteraction locally, remotely, or both. For example, the system mayprompt users to enter registration information on a web site that isresident on web server 46. The system may, for example, require users toset or adjust system settings using set-up software running locally onuser access device 22. The set-up information may subsequently becommunicated to remote site 14. Any suitable combination of local andremote registration processes may also be used.

FIGS. 5-9A, 10, 11, and 17 are illustrative displays that the system mayprovide to the user during the registration process. Although thedisplays shown in FIGS. 5-9A, 10, 11, and 17 are shown as web pages, itshould be understood that the displays need not be limited to beingdisplayed in a web browser or using an Internet-based or client-serverbased approach. For example, the displays may be generated by web server46. The displays shown in FIGS. 5-10, 15, and 16 are merelyillustrative. If desired, any other suitable displays may be used. FIG.5 shows an illustrative service agreement display that the system mayprovide as one of the first screens in the registration procedure. Whenthe user agrees to the terms of the service agreement, the system maythen prompt the user for personal information as shown in FIG. 6. Thesystem may, for example, prompt the user for a login identifier andpassword.

The system may provide the user with opportunities to set names oridentifiers for monitoring modules and/or connected devices. FIG. 7shows an illustrative display listing devices for a particularinstallation and the devices' corresponding names and/or descriptions.The system may provide the user with an opportunity to enter names forthe monitoring module, the devices, or both, during the registrationprocess. If desired, an entire installation may be given a name chosenby the user. FIG. 8 shows an illustrative display that prompts the userfor an installation name.

If desired, the system may provide displays instructing users how toconnect various devices and how to register them with remote site 14.FIG. 9A shows an illustrative display having instructions on how toconnect a camera to the monitoring module in order for the camera to beautomatically detected and registered with remote site 14.

Automatic detection of devices may be implemented using any suitablesoftware, hardware, or both that may allow devices coupled to amonitoring module to be automatically detected. The approach employedfor implementing automatic detection may depend on whether there isone-way communications between devices 32 and monitoring module 28(i.e., from devices 32 to monitoring module 28) or whether there istwo-way communications.

In one suitable approach monitoring modules may continuously,periodically, or in response to one or more particular events, attemptto handshake with devices. This is illustrated by FIG. 9B. Themonitoring module may send a handshake message through all of itsinterface ports (e.g., USB, parallel, serial, IEEE 1394, infrared,proprietary, and any other suitable wired or wireless based port) in anattempt to reach all devices that may possibly be coupled to themonitoring module (step 200). The monitoring module may use any suitablealgorithm in sending handshake communications to its interface ports.For example, the communications may be sent sequentially, using roundrobin, weighted fair queuing, or any other suitable algorithm. If adevice is coupled to the monitoring module the handshake communicationmay be sent to the port to which the device was connected (step 202). Atstep 204, the device may respond to the handshake communication (e.g.,with another handshake communication). If a response is received by themonitoring module, then at step 206, the device that communicated theresponse is detected by the monitoring module. The monitoring module maythen request additional information from the detected device (e.g., touse in the registration process). If no response is received from aparticular port, then a device is not detected at that port.

If devices are daisy-chained, the handshake may be passed on from onedevice to another in the chain. Responses from the daisy-chained devicesmay be returned from one device to the next until the responses reachthe monitoring module.

The use of handshakes is merely an illustrative approach for theautomatic detection of devices. Any other suitable approach may be used.For example, a monitoring module may check its ports to determinewhether any data streams are coming into the ports. For example, in thecase where the device is a video camera, a constant video feed may becommunicated from the video camera to the monitoring module. If there isa data stream coming in, then the monitoring module may acknowledge thata device is coupled to that port. FIG. 9C illustrates this method ofautomatic detection of devices. At step 208 a device may be coupled tothe monitoring module. The device may transmit a data stream at step210. At step 212, the monitoring module may check ports for data streamsand may detect a data stream (step 214) at the port corresponding to thedevice.

In another suitable approach, devices may be configured to periodically,continuously, or upon particular events (e.g., power-up, user pressing abutton, or any other suitable event) send a message through theirrespective connection interfaces, identifying themselves. For example,each device may have a user interface such as a button that a user mayneed to interact with (e.g., pressing the button) in order for thedevice to be detected. For example, upon user interaction, the devicemay send a communication to its corresponding monitoring module. Thecommunication may be any suitable communication that may allow themonitoring module to detect the device. In one suitable embodiment, thecommunication may include a serial number associated with the device.The serial number may be used by the monitoring module to identify thedevice in subsequent processes. If desired, this approach may be usedwith wireless devices (i.e., devices 32 that communicated withmonitoring module 28 via a wireless interface such as Bluetooth), whilewired devices may be detected using any other suitable method.

Any other suitable approach for the automatic detection of devices maybe used. For example, the monitoring module may detect whetherelectrical current is flowing through device ports as a means ofdetecting devices (in the case of wired devices). In such an embodiment,the device may change the state of an interface element (e.g., aconnection pin) between a high value and a low value depending onwhether power is being sent through the port to the device. For example,if a video camera is coupled to the monitoring module, the video cameramay be automatically powered by the current from the monitoring module.The flow of current may cause the value of a particular connection pinto change from low to high. The monitoring module may detect the highvalue of the particular connection pin, thus indicating the presence ofa device.

In another suitable approach, the devices and monitoring modules may beconfigured according to hot-plugging standards (e.g., that make use ofIEEE 1394, USB, PCMCIA, or any other interface that accords withhot-plugging standards). Any such suitable approach may be used.

In one suitable embodiment of the present invention, a detected devicemay communicate a unique string to the monitoring module. The uniquestring may be used by the monitoring module to detect the device or theunique string may be communicated subsequent to the detection of thedevice. The unique string may contain a uniform resource identifier(URI), such as, for example, a uniform resource locator (URL). The URImay provide a link to a downloadable object, such as, for example, aremote method invocation (RMI), a common object request brokerarchitecture (CORBA) object, a distributed component object model (DCOM)object, a device driver/device descriptor, or any other suitabledownloadable object. The downloadable object may be acquired bymonitoring module 28 (using, for example, communication network 16). Thedownloadable object may be installed at monitoring module 28. The objectmay be executed and may take responsibility for running thecorresponding device, registering parameters, registering events,registering components, or for performing any combination of these orany other suitable functions.

FIG. 10 shows an illustrative display showing which devices have beendetected. The registration process may provide users with opportunitiesto set up or customize the detected devices in any suitable way. Forexample, the system may allow the user to rename any device, as in theillustrated example, to set parameters for detected devices (e.g.,setting a digital camera's resolution, setting default settings fordevice, etc.), or to customize the devices in any other suitable way.

Other information that monitoring module 28 may supply to remote site 14during the registration process may include information about the typeof communications network 16 being used by the client access device tocommunicate with remote site 14. FIG. 11 is an illustrative display thatmay be displayed for the purpose of requesting this information. Anysuitable information may be supplied to remote site 14 during theregistration process, including, for example, information regardingclient device 22, parameters for devices 32, and information regardingany particular software or hardware component of installation 12.

The monitoring module may generate a globally unique monitoring moduleidentification and a monitoring module password during the registrationprocess. These are illustrated in FIG. 12. Every monitoring module 28may have a model identification code, identifying the particular modelof the monitoring module. During the registration procedure, or at anyother suitable time, the monitoring module may generate a monitoringmodule identification 116 and a monitoring module password 118. Ifdesired, the monitoring module identification 116 and a monitoringmodule password 118 may be predetermined and stored in memory in themonitoring module during the manufacturing process. The monitoringmodule identification may be unique to each particular monitoring modulein the whole set of existing monitoring modules. This is merely anillustrative embodiment of the monitoring module, and any other suitableembodiment may be used.

Monitoring module 28 and remote site 14 may communicate using acommunications protocol. The communications protocol between monitoringmodule 28—and remote site 14 (e.g., via communication network 16) mayconsist of a series of predefined messages, message parameters, andreturn codes. The registration protocol may be a subset of thiscommunications protocol and may be specific to the registration processused to register monitoring modules and devices with remote site 14.

Registration protocol messages may be initiated by the monitoringmodule. The monitoring module may, for example, generate a transactionidentification for each message. The transaction identification may bean identifier that is unique within a given time window. Registrationprotocol messages may include, or be accompanied by, the transactionidentification, model identification code, monitoring moduleidentification, and monitoring module password. The registrationprotocol message may include commands and any required command-specificparameters. If desired, any suitable part of the system other than themonitoring module may initiate the communication of registrationprotocol messages. For example, the user may manually initiate theregistration protocol messages using, for example, client device 22.

Remote site 14 may process monitoring module registration messages andreturn confirmation messages to the monitoring module that initiated orgenerated the registration messages. The confirmation message maycontain the original message's transaction identification, a versionidentification of the software being used at web server 46, databaseserver 48, or both, and the name or other identification of the commandto which the confirmation is responding. If desired, confirmationmessages may include any other identification information or othersuitable information instead of or in addition to those described.

Confirmation messages may also include an acknowledge character (ACK) toindicate remote site 14 processed the message correctly. When remotesite 14 cannot process the message correctly, for whatever reason (e.g.,checksum error, invalid command parameter, etc.), confirmation messagemay include a negative-acknowledge character (NAK) code. Theconfirmation message may also include an error message that may indicatethe reason for the NAK code.

In one suitable approach, remote site 14 may have the ability torecognize certain errors, forms of errors, or both. Remote site 14 mayalso correct the recognized errors. Instead of returning a NAK code inthis situation, remote site 14 may return an ACK code with anotification of the detected error and the fact that it was corrected.Alternatively, remote site 14 may only return an ACK code without theacknowledgment that an error was corrected. Any such suitable responsemay be used.

If desired, multiple registration protocol or other messages may be sentusing only one communication. This may be accomplished using anysuitable technique. For example, the messages may be bundled into anextensible markup language (XML) command schema. Remote site 14 may,likewise, respond to the bundled message communication in one XMLconfirmation schema. Alternatively, remote site 14 may provideindividual responses for each command in the original communication.

FIG. 13 shows illustrative steps involved in the registration process.It should be understood that the steps shown in FIG. 13 may be alteredin any suitable way. For example, steps may be added, deleted, orperformed in any suitable order. FIG. 13 is merely an illustrativeembodiment of the registration process. Any suitable modifications maybe made in accordance with the present invention. In the first series ofsteps 100, the monitoring module may generate a monitoring moduleidentification, a monitoring module password, a model identificationcode, and a transaction identification. Registration information fromdevices 32, coupled to the monitoring module may be extracted. Thesepieces of information may be included in a registration message that iscommunicated to remote site 14 by monitoring module 28 at step 102.

At step 104, remote site 14 may check the validity of registrationmessages, of command (or commands) included in the registrationmessages, or both. Checking message validity may include, for example,checking whether a message has a transaction identification that isunique within the agreed upon time window; checking whether a messageincludes a unique monitoring module identification and a monitoringmodule password; and checking whether a message includes a modelidentification code. If desired, any other suitable technique may beused in checking message validity. Checking message command validity mayinclude, for example, determining whether a command is one that remotesite 14 is able to recognize (i.e., is an actual predefined command);and whether a message includes the correct command parameters for thecommand used. If desired, any other suitable technique may be used inchecking message command validity. If desired, remote site 14 may alsocheck for command specific validity. This may involve, among otherthings, ensuring that any contingent devices have already beenregistered, checking to make sure a device that is to be registered hasnot already been registered, and any other suitable validity checks.FIG. 14 shows illustrative commands, corresponding command parameters,and corresponding command validity checks for the registration process.If desired, any other suitable commands may be used.

If there are no errors, remote site 14 may register the installation,including the monitoring module, devices, resources, components, virtualrepresentations, and any other suitable elements of the installation. Ifdesired, any of the elements may also be registered separately fromother elements. Remote site 14 may also associate the registeredelements with the corresponding user account. Registering monitoringmodules 28 and devices 32 may include, for example, adding theidentified monitoring module, devices, user, or any other suitableinformation contained in the registration message, to a database atremote site 14. Remote site 14 may then generate a confirmation messagethat includes, in the case of no errors, an ACK. When errors areencountered during the registration process, remote site 14 may return aNAK. At step 106, the confirmation message may be transmitted fromremote site 14 to the monitoring module. At step 108, the monitoringmodule checks the confirmation message. If a NAK is found, then themonitoring module may retransmit the registration message at step 112.If an ACK is found then the registration is deemed to be successful atstep 110.

Information regarding registered monitoring modules and registereddevices may be stored in the database. Remote site 14 may access thedatabase to retrieve information about the registered monitoring module(or monitoring modules) and registered devices. The system may providethe user with the ability to set preferences for the registered devices,gather information from the registered devices, and control theregistered devices. The database may allow for an efficient mechanism bywhich information about devices may be accessed and provided to theuser. An illustrative database schema is shown in FIG. 15. If desired,any other suitable schema may be used.

When a user registers with remote site 14, a number of table entries inthe database may be created. The user's personal information, billinginformation, the monitoring module's unique monitoring moduleidentification, the monitoring module password, and any other suitabledata may be stored in the database. Entry of the data into the databasemay be facilitated by using an appropriate database application programinterface (API), such as, for example; an API with a data parameter thatmay create a data cell and store the content of the data parameter inthe data cell. Thus, only a single function call may be needed forentering a piece of data into the database. Once a new user is added tothe database, the function may return a user identification code ornumber. This user identification may be used by the system to refer tothe user rather than having to use the user's name.

The process for adding entries for monitoring modules and devices in thedatabase may be similar to the process for adding entries for users.That is, using APIs, new table entries may be added in the database.When registering new monitoring modules and devices, only a singlefunction may need to be called by web server 46 to create theappropriate table entries in database 58. The appropriate table entriesmay be created and the appropriate identification codes or numbers maybe returned. If desired, any other suitable technique for adding entriesfor monitoring modules and devices in the database may be used.

When processing validity checks, web server 46 may query the database todetermine whether certain entries are already in existence. For example,when registering a new device, a function may be called by web server 46that returns a boolean value corresponding to whether or not the devicealready exists in the database. This querying process may be performedusing suitable API's.

Although the illustrated system uses APIs as an interface betweendatabase server 48 and web server 46, other suitable technologies may beused. For example, Perl scripts, CGI scripts, Cold Fusion, or any othersuitable technologies, or combination thereof, may be used to interfacedatabase server 48 with web server 46.

FIG. 16 illustrates a relationship between web server 46 and thedatabase. Generally, communication between the database and the worldwide web site may be done through the use of API functions. The webserver may call a particular API function that causes the database to beaccessed. The API may then return a value (in accordance with thespecification of the particular function) that is sent to the webserver. This is merely an illustrative way of allowing the web server tointeract with the database. If desired, any other suitable way ofallowing the web server to interact with the database may be used.

Users may also edit preferences for registered devices. For example, thesystem may provide users with opportunities to set up specialnotification preferences for particular devices. FIG. 17 shows anillustrative display. The display shows a listing of event descriptionsand the corresponding notifications set up for each event descriptionlisting. The user may be given the ability to edit the notificationaction.

In one suitable embodiment of the present invention, registration of adevice 32 may entail the registration of actions and indicatorsassociated with that device. An action may be an action that a user maytake with respect to a corresponding device 32 from a remote locationusing, for example, remote user access device 17. For example, a useraccessing a web site using user access device 17 and turning up thebrightness level of a video camera at installation 12 may be a suitableaction. An indicator may be used to provide information regardingparticular feedback from a corresponding device 32. For example, thecurrent frame rate of a video camera may be a suitable indicator.

In another suitable embodiment of the present invention, theregistration process may be layered with sub-registration processes forregistering users, registering installations associated with theirrespective users, registering monitoring modules associated with theirrespective installations (and, in turn, associated with their respectiveusers), registering devices associated with their respective monitoringmodules, registering resources associated with their respective devices,registering components associated with their respective resources, andregistering virtual representations which are made up of components toprovide a virtual device. This is illustrated by step 304 of FIG. 4.

The registration process for each of these layers may includeregistration information being sent from the monitoring module to theremote site, including suitable registration commands and parameters(e.g., addComponent(Resource, monitoringModule, componentType, etc.)).Registration messages for the different layers may be generated using amarkup language (e.g., HTML). For example, HTML form post commands withname/value pairs may be used in the registration message. When theregistration message is communicated to the remote site, web server 46may process the registration message by parsing the markup languagecode. Appropriate entries may be made into database 58 at remote site 14to catalog the registered elements of an installation.

Each registered element may be assigned a suitable identification codeby remote site 14 that may be used to identify at remote site 14 theelement within a particular installation. In one suitable approach,monitoring module 28 may assign an identification to an element ofinstallation 12 that is unique only to installation 12 or to monitoringmodule 28. The identification assigned by monitoring module 28 may ormay not be made identical to the identification code assigned by remotesite 14. In the approach where the identifications are different, theidentification code assigned by remote site 14 may be mapped to theidentification assigned by monitoring module 28 (e.g., using appropriatedatabase constructs). When communicating with monitoring module 28regarding a particular element, remote site 14 may look up the mappedidentification assigned by monitoring module 28 and communicate usingthat identification. In the case where the remote site 14 and monitoringmodule 28 use the same identification, the identification assigned byremote site 14 may be returned to monitoring module 28. Monitoringmodule 28 may use the identification in subsequent communications withremote site 14 when referring to the element of installation 12 withwhich identification is associated.

Virtual representation registration may involve a template documentbeing registered with the remote site. A template document may be adescription of the layout of components (i.e., virtual representationsof actual device components) that may be used to generate a web pagedisplaying the components. A markup language, such as, for example, HTMLmay be used to generate a template document. A template tag may be usedthat may take the form of <component id=XX>, where “id” may be used todesignate a particular component. The tag may be followed with code(e.g., HTML code, Javascript, etc.) that may include state informationof the particular component, or any other suitable information. When auser accesses a registered virtual representation (of a registereddevice) via, for example, web page 47, remote site 14 may collect all ofthe components associated with the device as well as the templatedocument for the virtual representation of the device. Remote site 14(e.g., web server 46) may generate a web page that may include acollection of code that was cut and pasted from the template document,producing a virtual representation of the device.

Users that access the virtual representation of the device may make anysuitable changes to the individual components (e.g., that correspond tostate changes of the corresponding device) and those changes may becommunicated to monitoring module 28. In one suitable embodiment, theactual state of components may not be altered in database 58 when thechanges are issued by suitable users through, for example, browser 26.Rather, upon monitoring module 28 receiving state changes via, forexample, packaged commands from queue 51, the commands may be deliveredto an appropriate device descriptor 49. Device descriptor 49 may beresponsible for communicating a command to remote site 14 for thepurpose of updating database 58 with the respective state changes. Thecommunication from device descriptor 49 may confirm the acceptance ofthe state changes. Changes in display components of device's virtualrepresentation may signal that a corresponding change is or has beenperformed in physical device 32.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in registering avirtual representation of a device. At step 400 a template document isgenerated. The template document may be generated at the monitoringmodule, at the device, or at any other suitable location. The monitoringmodule may communicate registration information at step 402. Theregistration information may include registration information for themonitoring module, devices, resources, components, and virtualrepresentations of devices. The registration information may alsoinclude the template document that may include information related tocomponents. At step 404, the remote site may use the registrationinformation to register, among other things, the virtual representationof the device, including the template document.

This is merely an illustrative approach of registering a virtualrepresentation. Any other suitable approach may be used. For example,the present invention is not limited to using HTML, but may make use ofany suitable markup language or any suitable language, in general, tocode registration information. If desired, template documents need notbe communicated by monitoring module 28 to remote site 14. Any suitableURI such as, for example, a URL, may be communicated that may directremote site 14 to a corresponding template document. In another suitableapproach, multiple template documents or one or more URIs linked tomultiple template documents may be registered in connection with aparticular virtual representation. For example, a device's virtualrepresentation may have a main layout for resources, which may each havea template for their respective components.

In one suitable embodiment of the present invention, events may beregistered at a remote site. An event may be specific to a particulardevice. For example, “FIRE!!!” may be a unique event to a fire alarmdevice, whereas “door motion sensor tripped” may be a unique event to adoor motion detector device. Any such suitable events may be associatedwith their respective suitable devices.

In one suitable embodiment of the present invention, as new devices areadded to a registered monitoring module, the monitoring module mayautomatically (i.e., without any user interaction) detect the presenceof the new devices and automatically notify remote site 14 of thepresence of the new devices. Remote site 14 may, in turn, add the newdevices to the database. In order to determine when and which newdevices are added, the monitoring module may conduct object discovery ona continuous basis. If desired, the object discovery may be conducted ona periodic basis. Once new devices are found, the monitoring module maysend a registration message to remote site 14 in accordance with thepresent invention. This process is shown in FIG. 19.

In some suitable embodiments of the present invention an installation 12may be re-registered. For example, in the case where a system crashoccurs at an installation 12, or if the hardware, software, or both isupgraded at the installation (or at the remote site), the installationmay need to be re-registered Re-registration may be necessary for anysuitable reason. The process for re-registration may be substantiallysimilar to the initial registration process for an installation,monitoring modules, resources, components, and virtual representations.

In one suitable approach, remote site 14, remote user access devices 17,or any other suitable remote elements of system 10 may accessinstallation 12 or any of the elements of installation 12 using aspecial address (e.g., IP address) that is associated with a particularinstallation 12 or with a particular element of installation 12. Thespecial address may be communicated from the corresponding installationor element of an installation during the registration process.

Thus, systems and methods for the automatic registration of devices areprovided. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the presentinvention can be practiced by other than the described embodiments,which are presented for purposes of illustration and not of limitation,and the present invention is limited only by the claims which follow.

1. A node, comprising: a sensor being configured to sense informationrelated to a condition of a location; an audio output device beingconfigured to output audible information; a display being configured todisplay visual information related to a setting of the node andinformation sensed by the sensor; a user-input component beingconfigured to receive user input; software being configured to beexecutable by processing hardware of the node, the software beingconfigured to cause at least some functionality of the sensor, the audiooutput device, and/or the display to be inoperable unless the node hasbeen registered at a remote site, wherein the node is registered at theremote site if registration information of the node is associated with auser account maintained by the remote site, wherein the registrationinformation of the node includes an identifier that identifies the node,wherein the node is located remote from the remote site.
 2. The node ofclaim 1, wherein the node and the remote site are communicativelycoupled to each other and to a client device.
 3. The node of claim 2,wherein the client device is a cellular mobile device.
 4. The node ofclaim 2, wherein the client device is a system controller, wherein thesystem controller and the node are disposed at the location.
 5. The nodeof claim 2, wherein the client device includes a client applicationbeing configured to: display a user interface for receiving user input,the user interface including a virtual component being configured tocorrespond to the user input component of the node; detect use by a userof the virtual component of the user interface; determine that thedetected use of the virtual component corresponds to an instruction toperform an operation involving the at least some functionality of thesensor, the audio output device, and/or the display transmit, forreceipt by the node, the instruction to perform the operation.
 6. Thenode of claim 5, wherein, responsive to receiving the instruction toperform the operation, the remote site is configured to: determine anaddress for communicating with the node via the communications network,wherein the remote site determines the address based at least in part onthe identifier that identifies the node; and transmit to the address theinstruction to perform the operation.
 7. The node of claim 6, wherein,upon receiving the instruction to perform the operation, the software ofthe node causes the node to execute the operation using the at leastsome functionality of the sensor, the audio output device, and/or thedisplay.
 8. The node of claim 2, wherein the client device includes aclient application being configured to: obtain from the sensor of thenode the sensed information that is related to the condition of thelocation; and display, via a user interface, the sensed information thatis related to the condition of the location.
 9. The node of claim 8,wherein the client application obtains from the sensor of the node thesensed information that is related to the condition of the location by:transmitting to the remote site a request for the sensed information,wherein the remote site obtains the sensed information from the node andtransmits the sensed information to the client application; andreceiving from the remote site the sensed information.
 10. The system ofclaim 9, wherein the remote site obtains the sensed information that isrelated to the condition of the location via a communication from thesoftware of the node.
 11. A method, comprising: causing, by software ofa node, at least some functionality of the node to be inoperable unlessthe node has been registered at a remote site that is located remotefrom the node, the node including a sensor being configured to senseinformation related to a condition of a location that is located remotefrom the remote site, an audio output device being configured to outputaudible information, a display being configured to display visualinformation related to a setting of the node and/or information sensedby the sensor, and a user-input component being configured to receiveuser input, wherein the node is registered at the remote site ifregistration information of the node is associated with a user accountmaintained by the remote site, wherein the registration information ofthe node includes an identifier that identifies the node.
 12. The methodof claim 11, further comprising: receiving, by the software of the node,an instruction to perform an operation involving the at least somefunctionality of the node that the software of the node causes to beinoperable unless the node has been registered at the remote site; andpermitting, by the software of the node, the operation if the node hasbeen registered at the remote site.
 13. The method of claim 12, whereinthe node receives the instruction to perform the operation via theuser-input component of the node.
 14. The method of claim 12, whereinthe node and the remote site are communicatively coupled to each otherand to a client device.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the clientdevice is a cellular mobile device.
 16. The method of claim 14, whereinthe client device is a system controller, wherein the system controllerand the node are disposed at the location remote from the remote site.17. The method of claim 14, further comprising: displaying, by a clientapplication running on the client device, a user interface for receivinguser input, the user interface including a virtual component beingconfigured to correspond to the user-input component of the node;detecting, by the client application running on the client device, useby a user of the virtual component of the user interface; determining,by the client application running on the client device, that thedetected use of the virtual component corresponds to the instruction toperform the operation; and transmitting, by the client applicationrunning on the client device, for receipt by the node, the instructionto perform the operation.
 18. The method of claim 17, furthercomprising: receiving, by the remote site, from the client applicationrunning on the client device the instruction to perform the operation;receiving, by the remote site, from the client application running onthe client device the identifier that identifies the node; determining,by the remote site, an address for communicating with the node, whereinthe address is determined based at least in part on the identifier thatidentifies the node; and transmitting, by the remote site, to theaddress the instruction to perform the operation.
 19. The method ofclaim 14, further comprising: receiving, at the remote site, from aclient application running on the client device a monitor request forthe information sensed by the sensor of the node, wherein theinformation sensed by the sensor of the node is related to the conditionof the location; transmitting, by the remote site, to the node therequest for the information sensed by the sensor of the node; receiving,at the remote site, from the node the information sensed by the sensorof the node, wherein the node transmits to the remote site theinformation sensed by the sensor of the node in response to the requestfrom the remote site; and transmitting, by the remote site, to theclient application running on the client device the information sensedby the sensor of the node.
 20. The method of claim 14, furthercomprising: receiving, by a client application running on the clientdevice, the information sensed by the sensor of the node; anddisplaying, by the client application running on the client device, auser interface including a virtual component that corresponds to thecondition and that indicates to a user the information sensed by thesensor.